Well, with this being our final commentary for 2012, let's take a look back at the year that was in precious metals...

Up until the last month of the year, the markets moved roughly in line with what our analysts expected. Gold and silver started off the year strong, pulled back in the spring, consolidated in the summer, and broke out heading into the fall.

We had anticipated a strong post-election rally to close out the year. Initially, such a rally seemed to be shaping up. It fizzled out toward the end of November, though, and gave way to heavy futures market selling pressure in December.

But let's be sure to keep things in perspective. Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium will all post positive gains for the year. Gold is up a little over 7% – its 12th consecutive yearly advance, in spite of being off its all-time highs.

Gold prices ranged from $1,530 per ounce to $1,800 for the year. The high came in early October, just fractionally exceeding the February high. Since gold twice tried and failed to break out above $1,800, that will be a key resistance level to watch in 2013. Once broken, it should act as a springboard.

As for silver, prices ranged from $26 to $37 per ounce in 2012. The highs for the year occurred at the end of February. Silver appears likely to finish the year near the middle of that range. It has spent the past four trading days oscillating around the $30 level and currently trades at $30.05 an ounce. Prices for silver are up almost 9% for the year.

Though silver is outperforming gold slightly, it isn't the best-performing precious metal of 2012. That distinction instead goes to platinum and palladium, which have both delivered nearly identical returns – 10.6% for platinum and 10.4% for palladium.

For most of the year, palladium underperformed the other precious metals. But in November, palladium caught some strong upward momentum. It continued to post gains into December, even as the other metals – silver especially – succumbed to paper market selling. Palladium closed above $700 per ounce on Thursday, a 10-month high, and currently trades at $709.

Palladium is the most eccentric of the precious metals. It often moves to the beat of a different drummer, which gives it value as a portfolio diversifier.

Investment demand for physical precious metals remained strong this past year. Sales of 2012 silver American Eagles reached nearly 34,000,000 coins. That's the third highest annual total since the U.S. Mint began producing silver Eagles more than 25 years ago. The Mint actually completely sold out its inventory of 2012s about 2 weeks ago. It will start selling 2013-dated silver Eagles on January 7, and we'll start shipping the 2013 Silver eagles to our customers shortly thereafter.

In the meantime, be sure to tune into next week's audio Market Wrap, our first of the new year. I'll go over some of the potential market drivers to watch and prepare for in 2013.

Until then, this has been Mike Gleason with Money Metals Exchange reminding you that we remain fully committed to getting you the most value for depreciating dollar....with speed, with privacy, and with top notch service.

Thanks for listening, and Happy New Year everybody, we'll talk to you in 2013.

Announcer:

Thank you for joining us for this edition of the Money Metals Exchange Weekly Market Wrap. Be sure to come back next week, and don't forget to subscribe to our weekly podcast through iTunes. For answers to all of your questions, or to discretely and securely buy or sell gold or silver coins, bars, and rounds, call 1-800-800-1865. Our knowledgeable and no-pressure specialists are standing by between 7:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. mountain time, Monday through Friday. Visit us at www.MoneyMetals.com or call 1-800-800-1865.

Mike Gleason is a Director with Money Metals Exchange, a national precious metals dealer with over 80,000 customers. Gleason is a hard money advocate and a strong proponent of personal liberty, limited government and the Austrian School of Economics. A graduate of the University of Florida, Gleason has extensive experience in management, sales and logistics as well as precious metals investing. He also puts his longtime broadcasting background to good use, hosting a weekly precious metals podcast since 2011, a program listened to by tens of thousands each week.